Three Charts That Show How The BJP Made Electoral History In UP

The scale of the party's victory is historic.

The scale of the BJP's win appears to have taken the party itself by surprise. As the BJP pushes past leading in 300 seats in Uttar Pradesh, here are the three record-breaking numbers in its win.

1. Only three times in UP's history has a party crossed 300 seats; in UP's first post-Independence election in 1951, the 1977 election when the Janata Party swept to power (and the state had more seats), and the 1980 election in which a resurgent Indira Gandhi propelled the party back to power.

2. The BJP has beaten its own record in the state by a wide margin. In 1991, the party won 221 seats and installed Kalyan Singh as chief minister. In the next election the party won fewer seats but got its highest ever voteshare--33.3% of all votes.

3. In this election, the BJP has beaten all of its own records. The party in fact kept its 2014 record nearly intact--in its Lok Sabha sweep, the BJP won 323 of 403 assembly constituencies, losing just 25 or so of these between then and the 2017 election.